Issues in Depth
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Upcoming Calls
Issues in Depth calls provide paid Net Impact members with the opportunity to interact with industry leaders about topics such as CSR, nonprofit management, international development, social entrepreneurship, cause marketing, and others.
| February 10 2010 |
Monica Nakielski, Principal and Co-Founder, Harmeda LLC
Max Dufour, Senior Manager, SunGard Consulting
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9:00-10:00 am PDT
12:00-1:00 pm EDT
5:00-6:00 pm GMT
Register
Monica Nakielski
Max Dufour |
Everyone is doing more with less these days, but sustainability performance must increase...how?
• Are you measuring the right things for the right results?
• Have you made decisions on instinct rather than information?
Metrics and measuring results goes beyond developing a sustainability strategy. Monica Nakielski and Max Dufour will review how successful organizations focus on developing and defining measures and metrics relevant to their sustainability strategy, make critical business decisions supported by trusted information and cultivate a process necessary for competitive advantage.
Key Discussion Topics:
• Selecting the right operational and strategic measures
• Measures, metrics, and indicators – what is the difference and how many do we need?
• Sharing information - visually communicating data
• Dashboards and Scorecards – driving operational, strategic, and tactical processes
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| Bio: |
Monica Nakielski
Monica is the principal and co-founder of Harmeda LLC. Before Harmeda Monica was a Management Consultant and the Lead for Sustainability at Palladium, formerly Balanced Scorecard Collaborative with Drs. Kaplan and Norton, developers of Balanced Scorecard management system. Monica is an active trainer and facilitator on the topics of strategy, corporate social responsibility and sustainability scorecards. Monica partners with organizations to make the link between sustainability principles and strategy, planning & alignment, performance management and communications & reporting.
Monica earned her MBA from the Simmons School of Management and earned her BS in Medical Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. As former member of the United States Air Force she holds government security clearance and is fluent in Spanish, proficient in Portuguese and beginner in French.
Max Dufour
Max is a Senior Manager for the SunGard Consulting Boston office. He has experience with strategy formulation, operational effectiveness, Green IT and sustainability. In 2009, Max worked on SunGard’s first Sustainability report and identified strategic initiatives for 2010. Max has participated in workshops with key stakeholders to define the key metrics to be used in SunGard’s datacenters to accurately measure sustainability and performance.
Max holds an MBA from Duke University, a BA from Northeastern University and completed graduate classes in technology at Harvard University. Max is a certified Project Manager (PMP) and a member of the Project Management Institute (PMI). Max plans on pursing a Doctorate in Work-Based Learning and Leadership at Wharton.
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| February 12 2010 |
Katie Kross, Associate Director with the Corporate Sustainability Initiative, Duke University
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9:00-10:00 am PDT
12:00-1:00 pm EDT
5:00-6:00 pm GMT
Register
Katie Kross |
Sustainability is an idea whose time has finally come. Everywhere you look these days, companies are touting carbon neutral goals, green consumer products, cleantech investment strategies and energy efficiency accomplishments.
But can you really find a job in this field? Absolutely. Join Katie Kross for a conversation about MBA career paths in corporate sustainability, corporate social responsibility (CSR), socially responsible investing, sustainability consulting, renewable energy, and other green industries. She'll share practical tips, tools, and resources gleaned from hundreds of interviews with MBA students and alumni who have successfully navigated the sustainable business internship/job search. |
| Bio: |
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Katie Kross
Katie Kross is a sustainability career coach, MBA student advisor, and business school administrator. She is an Associate Director with the Corporate Sustainability Initiative at Duke University and author of the new book Profession and Purpose: A Resource Guide for MBA Careers in Sustainability (Greenleaf Publishing, 2009). An MBA graduate herself, she has developed career support and mentoring programs for students interested in sustainability and counseled hundreds of individual students and alumni on their career paths. A distinguished member of Net Impact, she also helped found the Triangle, North Carolina professional chapter of Net Impact.
(Note: Profession and Purpose is available to Net Impact members at a 25% discount through Greenleaf Publishing. Link: http://www.netimpact.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=3016.)
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| February 17 2010 |
Brought to you with support from the Hitachi Foundation
Steven D. Lydenberg, Chief Investment Officer, Domini Social Investments, Vice President, Domini Funds
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9:00-10:00 am PDT
12:00-1:00 pm EDT
5:00-6:00 pm GMT
Register
Steven D. Lydenberg |
The last decade has seen vast increases in both the number of corporate responsibility reports and methods of reporting. The volume and variety of information included in often lengthy reports can be confusing to professionals, let alone first-time readers. The Institute for Responsible Investment's recently published guide, entitled "How to Read a Corporate Social Responsibility Report," is intended to help CSR report readers of all experience levels determine what information is useful and what is not. In this call, the principal author of the guide will discuss some of the major challenges that arise in analyzing CSR reports and highlight the characteristics of strong reporting. |
| Bio: |
Steven D. Lydenberg
Steven D. Lydenberg is Chief Investment Officer of Domini Social Investments and Vice President of the Domini Funds. He has been active in social research since 1975. Mr. Lydenberg was a founder of KLD Research & Analytics, Inc. and served as its research director from 1990 to 2001. From 1987 to 1989, he was an associate with Franklin Research and Development Corporation (now known as Trillium Asset Management). For 12 years he worked with the Council on Economic Priorities, ultimately as director of corporate accountability research.
Mr. Lydenberg has written numerous publications on issues of corporate social responsibility. He is the author of Corporations and the Public Interest (Berrett-Koehler, 2005), coauthor of Investing for Good (Harper Collins, 1993), coeditor of The Social Investment Almanac (Henry Holt, 1992), and coauthor of Rating America's Corporate Conscience (Addison-Wesley, 1986). He has published articles including "Trust Building and Trust Busting: Corporations, Government and Responsibilities" (Journal of Corporate Citizenship, Autumn 2003) and "Envisioning Socially Responsible Investing: A Model for 2006" (Journal of CorporateCitizenship, Autumn 2002). Mr. Lydenberg is a fellow with the Institute for Responsible Investment and is a member of the Boston Security Analysts Society.
Mr. Lydenberg holds a B.A. in English from Columbia College and an M.F.A. in theater arts from Cornell University, and holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
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| February 18 2010 |
Tommy Clark, Founder and CEO, Grassroot Soccer
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9:00-10:00 am PDT
12:00-1:00 pm EDT
5:00-6:00 pm GMT
Register
Tommy Clark |
Soccer is an integral part of local cultures across the world. It is something so positive that it brings smiles to children’s faces even in the worst of circumstances. By working within this existing structure and by training role models – pro players, coaches and youth players themselves – to get the message out about healthy behavior and the risks of HIV, Grassroot Soccer has shown that we can break stigmas, dramatically increase awareness, change behaviors, and turn the tide against HIV.
Founded by former professional soccer players in 2002, Grassroot Soccer (GRS) trains African soccer stars, coaches, teachers, and peer educators in the world’s most HIV-affected countries to deliver an interactive HIV prevention and life skills curriculum to youth. With an annual budget of $4.2 million, 61 employees and over 300 volunteers in South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe and the United States, the organization has used a rigorous monitoring & evaluation system to produce impressive results in knowledge, attitudes, stigma, and communication related to HIV.
Join this call to learn more about Grassroot Soccer's strategy, operations, and funding as well as the challenges that Founder and CEO Tommy Clark has experienced on the road to scaling the organization. |
| Bio: |
Tommy Clark
Dr. Thomas S. Clark, Pediatrician and Executive Director of Grassroot Soccer, Inc., conceived the idea for Grassroot Soccer after living in Zimbabwe. Born in Scotland where his Dad played for the Scottish National Soccer Team, he then moved to Zimbabwe at age 14 when his Dad became the coach of the Bulawayo Highlanders Soccer Team there.
Upon his graduation, Dr. Clark returned to Zimbabwe, to both play for the Bulawayo Highlanders Team and to serve as a volunteer English teacher. It was while in Zimbabwe this second time that Clark experienced both the devastation of HIV/AIDS and the power of soccer, which later inspired the idea that would become the basis for Grassroot Soccer.
Clark returned again to the United States and completed his medical training at Dartmouth Medical School, graduating in 2002. As a resident at the University of New Mexico, he was twice named Resident Teacher of the Year. He went on to get advanced training in HIV prevention research at UCSF, using his background in medicine to give Grassroot Soccer a firm foundation in curriculum and evaluation.
With the assistance of key mentors Ben Hoffman, his Residency Director, and Bill Wiese, then head of public health for the state of New Mexico, Dr. Clark conceived the basic design for Grassroot Soccer. With assistance from co-founders Ethan Zohn, Kirk Friedrich and Zimbabwe native, Methembe Ndlovu, Grassroot Soccer was incorporated in 2002. With start up support from both Ethan Zohn’s winnings from the tv program Survivor Africa and a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Grassroot Soccer conducted its first research and program in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.
Today, Grassroot Soccer conducts HIV/AIDS prevention programs in seventeen countries and is grateful to have support from numerous partners, individual and corporate donors and foundation and government grants. Most recently, the first of the 20 Football for Hope Centers to be built by FIFA in South Africa was turned over to Grassroot Soccer to administer.
Dr Clark has conducted research in HIV prevention under a National Institute of Health Fellowship at the University of California at San Francisco. He has just completed the third year as a Draper Richards Foundation Fellow, given to a select group of social entrepreneurs each year.
Dr. Clark’s work has earned him numerous awards and distinctions. These include the American Academy of Pediatrics Annie Dyson Child Advocacy Award, the Dartmouth College Martin Luther King Junior Social Justice Award, the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care Nkosi Johnson Award and the Peace Abbey’s Courage of Conscience Award. Dr. Clark has earned the Hansjoerg Wyss Scholarship from the Harvard Business School and the Richard D. Lombard Public Service Fellowship from the Nelson Rockefeller Center for Public Policy at Dartmouth College.
Dr. Clark lives with his wife, Susannah, and their two children in Lyme, New Hampshire.
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| February 24 2010 |
Erin Ganju, Co-Founder and CEO, Room to Read
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9:00-10:00 am PDT
12:00-1:00 pm EDT
5:00-6:00 pm GMT
Register
Erin Ganju |
Erin Ganju, the Co-Founder and CEO of Room to Read, has been a key member of the team that has built and scaled one of the fastest growing social entrepreneur organizations. Room to Read was founded on the belief that world change starts with educated children, and envisions a world in which all children can pursue a quality education that enables them to reach their full potential. Room to Read’s mission is to transform the lives of millions of children in developing countries by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education. In just 10 years, they have scaled from operating in one country in Asia, Nepal, to currently nine countries in Asia and Africa, reaching more than 4 million children with their educational programs. They have established over 9,000 bilingual libraries for children, published more than 330 original local language books, built 832 schools and funded over 8,700 girls through their Girls’ Education program. Room to Read’s annual operating budget of $25 million is funded by 60%+ individual donors and they have a unique volunteer chapter model that raises one third of their budget every year and operates in more than 43 cities worldwide. During the call, Erin will share her perspective on the key lessons learned while growing and scaling Room to Read, including managing fast growth in fundraising, programs, expansion, monitoring and evaluation and operations. |
| Bio: |
Erin Ganju
Erin has been critical since the founding of Room to Read to designing programs, expanding to new countries, developing and scaling their unique fundraising approach and managing all aspects of the operations for this global organization. She currently manages all day to day operations for the organization, overseeing the Programs, Development, Finance and Human Resource departments.
Under Erin’s leadership, Room to Read has been recognized with prestigious awards, including the Draper Richards Fellowship, the Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship, American Library Association’s Presidential Citation for International Innovation Award and has been named one of the Academy for Educational Development’s "Breakthrough Ideas in Education” winners. In addition, Room to Read is one of the few organizations to have won the Fast Company/Monitor Social Capitalist Award every year since its inception.
Erin is an experienced international business development professional, having worked most recently as Vice President, Business Development for Dejima, Inc. Erin's previous professional experience also includes having worked for two large, multi-national companies: Unilever N.V. and Goldman, Sachs & Co. She has spent extensive time working overseas, particularly in Hong Kong, Singapore and Vietnam. Erin holds combined bachelor's and master's degrees in International Relations and Economics from Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at The Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C.
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| February 25 2010 |
Mark Popovich, Senior Program Officer, Hitachi Foundation
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9:00-10:00 am PDT
12:00-1:00 pm EDT
5:00-6:00 pm GMT
Register
Mark Popovich
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To quote Thomas Paine, “These are the times that try men’s souls.” Hard times make for hard choices. And choices made and actions taken in the tough times are the true gauge of the depth and durability of our values. We see concrete evidence for cautious optimism based on the attitudes, actions, and investment decisions emerging from a large, national, representative sample of business leaders surveyed at the heights of the economic recession.
The economic shocks of the past two years are the strongest since the Great Depression. The consequences are the centerpiece of daily headlines. The economy skidded from robust growth to a hair-raising decline. Jobs vanished as unemployment soared. Real estate and the stock market plummeted. Another cycle of egregious wrongdoing and corporate misdeeds emerged. The toll of these trends on businesses pushed some to their demise, and left many others gasping for survival. People and communities are suffering greatly as many are losing hope of recovery. The effects of these forces on businesses are also amply documented in our results. Most suffered drops in sales or revenues and many were forced to cut jobs, pay, and benefits.
The hopeful message in our data is that, despite the extreme turbulence, most businesses are committed to being good corporate citizens. In fact, over half believe that corporate citizenship is even more important in a recession. Overall, corporate citizenship efforts have been maintained and in key cases advanced in these difficult times. The report offers hope that corporate America is deciding that applying for full corporate citizenship delivers significant value to their business as well. It is a series of fairly encouraging signs in the midst of a great economic upheaval. |
| Bio: |
Mark Popovich
Mark Popovich is a Senior Program Officer at the Hitachi Foundation and is responsible for their Business and Communities Grants Program. This program supports the Corporate Social Responsibility field. They also make investments aimed at improving prospects for lower wealth people through skills training and career development. He has helped shape the biannual State of Corporate Citizenship Surveys with Boston College. And he has contributed to the development of two national multi-foundation initiatives. The Jobs to Career Initiative focuses on work-based training for frontline workers across the health sector. The Hitachi Foundation is also a founding partner in the $50m National Fund for Workforce Solutions.
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| March 5 2010 |
Mark Goyder, Founder & Director, Tomorrow's Company
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9:00-10:00 am PDT
12:00-1:00 pm EDT
5:00-6:00 pm GMT
Register
Mark Goyder |
The banking crisis has cost shareholders and taxpayers billions. What can be done to prevent such corporate failures in the future?
In a word, the answer is “better stewardship”. In 2008 Tomorrow’s Company In completed a major study of ownership. It concluded that shareholders had four functions. The first is to provide finance. The second is to elect the directors and hold them accountable. The third is to trade shares and through this to set the market price. And the fourth – too often neglected - function is stewardship.
In this call Mark Goyder will describe the background to the ground breaking work of Tomorrow’s Company on stewardship and governance, and describe in detail the stewardship principles and how they can be used to assess the performance of boards and investors. |
| Bio: |
Mark Goyder
Mark Goyder, Founder Director - After 15 years as a manager in manufacturing businesses, he initiated the Royal Society of Arts and Commerce (RSA) Tomorrow's Company Inquiry and consequently founded the business-led Tomorrow's Company. Over the past ten years, he has inspired and challenged the boards, leaders and managers of leading large and small companies with his clear vision: and his practical insights into the changing agenda for leadership, governance, and stakeholder relationship. Mark holds a number of other positions, including British Airways Corporate Responsibility Board; BT Leadership Advisory Panel; Camelot Advisory Panel for Social Responsibility and Judge for Unipart group Mark in action awards. He was named Director of the month, June 2004, by Director Magazine and won the IMS Millenium award for best speaker.
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| March 25 2010 |
Rebecca Tarbotton, Acting Executive Director, Rainforest Action Network
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9:00-10:00 am PDT
12:00-1:00 pm EDT
5:00-6:00 pm GMT
Register
Rebecca Tarbotton |
When most people think of climate change, they picture giant smokestacks from a coal-fired power plant, or traffic-clogged freeways, or maybe a melting glacier or polar bear. But one primary cause of global warming often goes unnoticed: deforestation. Burning or cutting down forests – particularly in the tropics – accounts for as much as twenty percent of global greenhouse gas emissions each year. It’s the reason why Indonesia ranks #3 in global emissions, and Brazil is #4. The reality is that we can’t stop climate change unless we also stop rainforest destruction. To protect our climate, we also have to protect our forests.
Over the last twenty-five years, Rainforest Action Network (RAN) has organized some of the country’s most effective efforts at changing corporate behavior. RAN helped to convince Burger King to stop selling rainforest beef, Home Depot to phase out wood from endangered forests, and last year convinced more than two dozen companies to discontinue purchases of paper from Indonesian rainforests. Please join RAN’s program director Rebecca Tarbotton to learn more about current consumer campaigns to address the primary drivers of tropical deforestation, namely the food and paper industries. Rebecca will also give an update on recent developments in Copenhagen and the U.S. to link forest and climate protection. |
| Bio: |
Rebecca Tarbotton
Rebecca Tarbotton joined RAN as Global Finance Campaign Director in April 2007 where she was responsible for guiding the team to successfully pressure the biggest banks in the US to adopt groundbreaking policies limiting finance to coal-fired power plants and mountaintop removal mining. Rebecca moved into the position of Program Director in July 2009, where she now oversees RAN’s five energy and forests campaigns. Prior to RAN, Rebecca had over ten years of experience in non-profit grassroots campaigning and advocacy. For two years, she was Campaign Coordinator for Californians for GE-Free Agriculture working on both grassroots campaigns and legislative advocacy and succeeding in halting the spread of genetically engineered rice in California. For more than seven years before that, she led the International programs of the International Society for Ecology and Culture (ISEC) building resistance to globalization, and promoting local food systems in both the U.K. and in Ladakh, India. Rebecca received a Bachelor's Degree in Geography from the University of McGill (1995) and also has a Masters in Community and Regional Planning from the University of British Columbia (1999).
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